Click
on the questions to hear Marilyn R. Herz's interview
at the State Teacher of the Year conference. You
must have a Real Player to listen to the interview.
If you do not have a Real Player, click on the
Real Player graphic:

Until
five years ago, my career had been spent in elementary classrooms,
particularly third grade. Then, I challenged myself to move to sixth
grade language arts at West Middle School, and it, too, has been a
wonderful adventure. An eastern Montana native, my teaching experience
in Missouri, Wisconsin, and South Dakota includes six years in Lutheran
Christian education and seventeen in the public schools, with several
years off in between to raise my three children. I see my profession,
not as a "day job," but as a lifestyle that requires constant alertness
for a better way to instruct and a more efficient use of time. Above
all, it means that my students have to know that I care about them
as individuals, not only heads to fill with knowledge. That caring
and commitment is the heart and soul of my teaching philosophy...

Scholastic
is the proud corporate sponsor of the National Teacher of the Year
Program.